WarWolf turns to me. “Don’t say a word, Weech. This could just be another test.”

StarBorne approaches her and smiles. “I can assure you that he is indeed speaking the truth.”

“How long have you known?” I ask.

“After our first exam he felt he owed me an explanation.”

WarWolf steps up to him. “Everyone was after you. If you were killed, then what would he do?”

Guru turns to her. “StarBorne would have been brought to Tempera if mortally wounded. There were doubts among the other RiftRippers if I had been compromised and my rescue of StarBorne put me in good favor with the other department heads.”

WarWolf glares at me. “My father was captured just so you could get the heat off you. What kind of leader are you?”

“SparkuPine volunteered for the mission.”

“I…killed him.” WarWolf clenches her fist till it bleeds.

“Yes and now it is your decision if you will take up his cause.”

I pull at Guru’s cloak. “What about Teacher? He wasn’t a traitor, was he? You made him confess and then…you killed him.”

I’m suddenly lifted up by a tentacled embrace.

“With my apparent death, the search for the ringleader of the Red Guild came to an end. Things are going splendidly!” Teacher spins around with me.

He’s really alive.

“You have to tell BunBun that you’re okay!” I exclaim.

Teacher sets me down. “BunBun is lost. Revealing myself to her now is too risky.”

“What if she ends up killing herself? You’ll always regret not telling her the truth.”

Guru looks to me. “I can request OniGiri to test her as I did you.”

“Yes! Please do! I’m sure she’d join our cause if she just understood it.”

I don’t even understand it yet, but showing doubt could be dangerous at this point.

“I trust your judgement.”

“Wait, there’s something I didn’t tell you about. OniGiri and I were spotted by an enemy RiftRipper.” I lower my head in shame.

Teacher raises his tentacles. “All part of the test and you passed with flying daggers!”

WarWolf steps up directly in front of Virtue Vice and stands tall. “No more secrets from now on. That’s my condition. I want to know everything you know.”

Teacher pats her. “You must have faith that Guru will lead us to victory. He tells us only what we need to know.”

Guru removes Teacher’s tentacle. “She’s absolutely entitled to the truth. You all are.”

WarWolf nods. “My mother, after she cut off my legs and I stabbed her…she said they never should have taken me in. What did she mean by that?”

Guru lowers his head. “Our parents, the one’s who raised us into great warriors, they aren’t our actual parents.”

Teacher looks at Guru nervously. “Are you sure you should say that?”

“The Black Guild sends RiftRippers out to acquire special children. Every assassin student is an indigo child, seen from the coloration of their eyes. You were then assigned parents based on your archetype, determined by our resident Arvhivos, Libras Historium. Weech needed parents who would nurture with love above all else while WarWolf required parents who would help her become independent.”

WarWolf looks at Guru with a pale face. “My father didn’t want me attached so that I wouldn’t become a RiftRipper. So, what happened to our real parents?”

“They were murdered.”

The guild stole me away from my family. What value is there to this truth? I think I was better off not knowing.

Guru looks up at the black ceiling. “Teacher was assigned to kill them and take their child to this world.”

Teacher bows to me. “I can never redeem myself for my actions.”

WarWolf sobs. “Why not just take us away? What does killing them accomplish?”

I embrace WarWolf with all my love, but I feel like it’s already been drained from me.

What does being an assassin even mean?

Guru’s coat spreads out as intersecting threads. “Truth threads join together to create the Archivos Web, a subconscious storehouse for all information in existence. The Black Guild are firm believers in the Archivos Web. Before your true final exam, they will reveal to all the students this truth to bring them even more despair. They feel a lie isn’t quite as potent as a truth.”

I stifle my tears. “So the Black Guild killed our parents just to cause us misery? That’s insane.”

“Misery is how they create RiftRippers. Killing your parents isn’t a test so much as it is the beginning of your transformation. The black liquid you ingested before that dreadful day is the seed of a RiftRipper. Your thoughts, skills and memory are being muddled by that liquid. That is why I specifically gave you muscle memory training.”

Teacher paces around in a circle. “Parents and teachers are given impossible tasks. If a class fails, then it is that teacher’s duty to kill them, this is meant to encourage teachers to help their students pass. My last class…I can never get their screams out of my head.” He turns to us and smiles. “Thank you all for saving me from killing you.”

WarWolf wipes her eyes. “I don’t want to know anymore about the truth of our past.”

“Tell us about our future. What is the plan?” I ask, holding her close to me.

Guru signals Teacher to let him talk. “The Black Guild believe that RiftRippers are the true assassins will do whatever it takes to create stronger RiftRippers to destroy their enemies. The Red Guild believes that assassins should be nurtured with experience, not misery. We denounce RiftRipper transformation and the sacrifices it demands. Sacrifice is meaningless without intent.” He grabs WarWolf’s hand. “Your father refused to be sacrificed by the guild. He gave up his own life and his legacy by his own choice.” Guru salutes by making an x cut in the air above his chest.

“Then I will offer up the same.” WarWolf salutes in the same way.

VirtueVice turns to me. “Your parents’ love for you is so genuine that not even the Black Guild could fabricate it. I ask that you make them proud by choosing to live a noble life for the sake of your fellow assassins.”

I gulp. “If this fails then my dreams of being a legendary assassin will forever be lost. But if I succeed then I’ll be more than a hero, I’ll be a prophet who changes the meaning of what an assassin is.” I grin. “Sounds like a fair gamble to me. I don’t know if my parents would want me to be a part of the Black Guild or the Red Guild, but I know what feels right to me.” I salute. “I offer up my services to the Red Guild.”

“I am forever grateful. Welcome to the Red Guild.” Guru salutes both of us and bows. “The final stage of the plan will take place during your true final exam.”

WarWolf holds out her hand. “Let’s focus on the matter at hand. What is your mission for us?”

“You all have now been armed with the truth. Go out and determine which students would join the Red Guild. I will then send OniGiri to test them.”

“If they are loyal to the Black Guild, do we…kill them?” I ask.

Guru smiles. “All assassins are our brothers and sisters. This is the old way, the teachings of the Black Guild. We will kill if we must, but our enemy is the Black Guild ideology itself. All the students and teachers are its victims. If the Archia Prima wills it and our actions follow the path she has given us, then all can be saved.”

I make each move carefully. My missions working alongside other assassins lose their meaning to me. Every moment I spend there is a moment I could be spending learning more about my fellow students and their potential allegiance to our cause. StarBorne would be perfect for this mission but his safety is top priority. Despite us being told we are assassins now, not a single mission has been a kill quest. When I brought this detail to WarWolf’s attention, she simply said that we’re better off not knowing why. I had thought that sharing the secrets of the Red Guild and working for a common cause would bring us closer, but those truths had shaken her to her core. Since Teacher and Guru both allowed her father to die, she felt resentment towards them. I fear that resentment has clung onto her and made her lose her grasp on happiness.

Since the Black Guild didn’t want to shake the truth regime they had established, they decided to paint CrimsonShocku as a traitor and me as the noble assassin who took him down. They told the students to be wary and watchful for traitors which made my investigation all the more tricky. On the bright side, the fake story they spun put me at a high level of trust among the whole school. This allowed me to be the first student to be assigned to protect a hero.

“Aren’t you a bit young to be an assassin?” asks the hero, who was only older than me by at few years. He had long flowing blond hair and a rounded face. The rest of his body was clad in shiny armor.

OniGiri pats my head. “Be careful. Insult him and he might stab you on impulse. He’s a dangerous one.”

The hero looks up OniGiri up and down. “So he’s just here to take notes. You’re my real bodyguard and such a lovely body you have, my lady.”

OniGiri tosses a line of knives about an inch in front of the hero’s feet. “My name is OniGiri. I never said I was a girl.”

“And yet you are. The WhiteKnight is only smitten with women, so you have to be one. Why don’t you remove that mask and show me the angelic face beneath?”

“I’m an assassin not an angel. Comparing to me an angel is blasphemy.”

“Then I am indeed a heathen.”

I step in between them and look at WhiteKnight. “I don’t get it. What makes you special?”

I know why assassins are chosen, but what is it that Isekai believes is needed to be a hero?

“My heroic spirit and my infinite love for women. Once I’ve killed the dictator and take the throne of this kingdom, I shall make arranged marriages illegal. It should be every woman’s choice to be with me.”

OniGiri crouches down to me. “How upset you think the guild would be if we were unable to protect him?”

“Hey, creep or not, we have a mission.”

“Right you are.” OniGiri turns to the hero. “If we’re going to keep you safe, you need to listen to our instructions. If we say move, you move. Got it?”

WhiteKnight grabs her hand and places a kiss upon it. “Your word is my mission, my lady.”

“Good. Now what is your mission?”

“As a noble and great hero I’ve been tasked with going to Another Village; that’s the actual name by the way, and rescuing the damsels. You will keep me protected until we make it a secret location where the women can spend the rest of their lives in peace.”

“So there’s an entire village of women?” I ask.

“That’s correct and its location has been entrusted to me.”

Why does Isekai put so much faith in this egotist?

OniGiri bows to him. “I pledge my truth in service to you, hero.”

WhiteKnight lifts her head. “Never bow your head to a mere man. This mission may seem small, but its importance cannot be understated. Even in a society rotting with patriarchy, there can matriarchal havens. I will crush the man ruling this garden, but in the meantime I will make sure to save every flower I can. You hear that, that’s poetry,” he says, raising his eyebrows at OniGiri.

His backpack opens up and a small angel with bunny ears raises her fist. “Down with the patricity!”

Wow. He has an angel. That’s incredible.

He looks up and smiles. “That’s pronounced pay-tree-r-key.”

She nods. “Men suck.”

He nods his head with pride. “They do indeed.”

OniGiri looks at the girl and then back at him. “You were assigned an angel?”

“Nope, this pure girl was being abused by the previous number one hero. I rescued her and reported him.”

“He named me Cinnamon Roll.” The angel hugs him with her BunBun ears.

WhiteKnight holds her ears and smiles. “The abuser was stripped of his title and not even the village elder could convince her to leave my side. With angels so scarce and wanting to keep up the false power of the image of their male driven society, they decreed me as the new number one hero.”

It’s just like how I was given praise for killing CrimsonShocku. Isekai will spin the truth in whatever way suits their purposes.

OniGiri took off her mask and smiles at WhiteKnight. “I apologize for earlier. I misjudged you.”

“Think nothing of it, my beautiful rice ball. Before I was born my soul chose to be a male in this life. I tell myself that was so I could use my privilege to help the fairer sex but my entitlements nonetheless are reason alone to judge me harshly.” He takes her hand and she smiles.

Cinnamon Roll raises her fist. “Let’s save some hot dames!”

WhiteKnight wipes a tear from his eye. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

We journey together through the forest of Broken Dreams, following the river of Lost Causes and finally arrive at Another Village. The buildings look lopsided, tilting forward.

“Even the towers of men bow to me! Ha!” exclaims WhiteKnight, standing tall.

The floor is paved but there’s some sticky goop between the tiles. Something about the place feels off.

OniGiri takes a look at the map. “The village is supposed to be past that hill over there. Where are we?”

WhiteKnight turns around and spots the sign. “It says Another Village right there. Lay your worries to rest. Wrinkles have no place on your smooth skin.”

The doors to the houses open and several women come rushing out to greet the hero.

WhiteKnight’s eyes pratically pop when they start pulling on him.

“You must be tired.” “Come with us.” “Thanks for coming to our village.” They say as they pull him inside.

OniGiri steps in their path. “Where is your village elder?”

The eldest of the women steps up to the assassin. “She fled when the CatBoys attacked our village. We are a village with no leader. The Legendary Hero rescued us back then but word is he’s gone rogue. If the CatBoys attack again, we will all be slaughtered.”

WhiteKnight puts his arms around the girls. They smile so he starts fondling their breasts. “There’s no telling when they might return. I know you’d all love to have passionate sex with me, but that must wait. I need your help.”

“The hero needs our help?” asks one of the girls, snuggling him.

He nods. “Absolutely. I need you to round up everyone in the village as soon as possible. Bring them to the front.”

The girls nod and rush off.

WhiteKnight turns to me. “As long as there are women in this village, it will be attacked. We can protect them and their home by relocating them.”

We take a bread break while the girls round up the entire village. Once they are rounded up he takes a look at each and every one of them. From there he decides who will come along with us. When he’s done there are around fifteen villagers selected.

OniGiri approaches him. “Not to question you, but why are half of them boys? Aren’t we only rescuing the women? Why some boys and not others?”

“Female is more about identity than biology. However, those who wish them harm can only see skin deep. In this oppressive world, girls dress restrictively and hide their endowments. Those boys are all Tomboys, females who must act as males in order to stay safe from the dictator’s raids.”

I look at him curiously. “Is your ability to decipher their sex the reason you were chosen as a hero.”

WhiteKnight grimaces. “I don’t know why I was chosen, but I was chosen nonetheless.” He turns to the villagers. “Prepare a wagon! We leave immediately.”

While on the journey to Vaginos, which according to WhiteKnight is the name of the village of females, we hear a lovely melody.

I look up drowsily at OniGiri. “Did you play music when you lived with your parents?”

Her face lights up. “I absolutely did, but this music isn’t from me.” She peaks out for a few seconds and then looks back at me. “I don’t see any other carriages on the road.”

The women are all huddled around WhiteKnight, whose face is painted with their gracious kisses.

Hero’s aren’t some mythic beings of perfection or moral paragons. They are flawed but they try to do the right thing regardless. The courage to help others is the only true requirement for hero and WhiteKnight is full of courage.

Cinnamon Roll looks up at me curiously. “I don’t hear any music.”

OniGiri suddenly grabs the girl. “If you start to lose yourself, run as far away from her as you can. We can’t risk losing an angel.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask, holding Cinnamon Roll tightly.

I won’t let anything bad happen to this BunBun.

“We’re under attack. That music is death itself.” OniGiri grabs WhiteKnight’s hand.

The girls in the area suddenly start screaming in agony. They then claw at each other, tearing skin and shedding blood.

Is this real?

WhiteKnight pushes OniGiri off him and runs into the bloody mess, doing his best to defend the women from each other.

“We have to kill them.” OniGiri whips out and knife. She tosses it at one of the girls.

WhiteKnight’s hand reaches out, getting stabbed in it’s place.

“You stubborn idiot! They’re going to tear you to pieces!” yells OniGiri. “Weech, help me kill them. Defending the hero is our mission.”

I look at the girls stabbing WhiteKnight’s armor with the knife he just protected them from and then back at OniGiri.

I don’t know what to do?

Then let me do it.

I shake away the voice in my head.

When OniGiri moves in and starts cutting down the girls, WhiteKnight kicks her off.

She tumbles off the carriage and grabs onto him, pulling him along.

I simply watch as the girls we just rescued tear each other to fleshy bits.

The moment the last one dies, the melody stops.

WhiteKnight climbs back into the carriage and is overcome by tears. “This is all my fault.”

I embrace him tightly. “What are you saying? You did your best to save them. You’re a hero. I’m the one who froze up. I didn’t protect you or them. I didn’t do anything.”

“We’re worthless males and cowards. I’m no hero. I’m cursed. My power is to automatically move to defend when someone is in danger. I didn’t think to save those girls, my body did it automatically. And even then…they were all killed.”

“Where’s OniGiri?” I ask.

“I knocked her out. I…punched a woman.” He holds his fist in misery. “I’m a total fraud. Do you know what I did before I was brought to this world. I dressed up as a knight to play board games and flirt with girls. The village thought that meant I have a strong desire to be a hero. But all that is just fantasy roleplay. Nothing about me is heroic. I should have been the one who died.”

“It’s not that simple. There wasn’t a way to save them. You can still be a hero. I’m praised as a legendary assassin at my school, but my body acted on impulse too. My status is a lie, but the belief the people have in me, the faith those girls have in you, that is absolutely true.”

WhiteKnight touches his cheek, which know has a bloody scratch on it from the dagger cut. “Who will have faith in a person like me? I don’t even have my good looks now.”

“We need to be more than people. We need to be a symbol.”

Cinnamon Roll takes a helmet out from his bag and hands it to him. “You’re my hero.”

WhiteKnight puts on the helmet and sobs. He then stands tall. “Justice has no face. If my curse is to save others than I shall make it my gift!” He turns to me. “To think I needed an assassin to help me overcome my male weakness.” He places his hand on my shoulder. “I hope I have inspired you as well. Use your privilege as a male icon to help bring equality to the oppressed minorities. Let their deaths be fuel for our noble missions.”

I give him a teary smile. “I absolutely will. Hey, why do you think we weren’t targeted?”

“A hero’s heart can’t be swayed by evil!” WhiteKnight exclaims proudly. He breathes in and then throws up in his helmet. “We should leave this carriage. It’s eating away my charisma.”

Cinnamon Roll pokes at one of the corpses. “Why is she quiet?”

WhiteKnight lifts her up. “She’s sleeping.”

“You’re hurt.” She grabs at his helmet.

“It will heal on its own.” He turns to me and hops out of the carriage.

I follow along.

OniGiri is a little ways down the road. I shake her to her senses.

“That’s a hell of a punch you got there.” She says, smiling at WhiteKnight.

“Your mission is over. I’m safe. The girls didn’t make it. I’m sorry for hitting you.”

“Hey you did it with determination and you just wanted to help those girls. That makes you a hero in my eyes.”

WhiteKnight stares at her. “I’m supposed to say something poetic and flirty right now, but I don’t have it in me.”

“Get some rest. We’re getting picked up in the morning. And don’t worry. That song won’t work on Weech or me. We’ve got a little seed that will protect us from being hypnotized.”

Is that true? Did you protect me? Can you…hear me?

I protected us. I will always protect us.

I give myself a big hug.

Looks like no matter what, I’ll never be alone.